Short Interest in Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) Drops By 17.7%

Heritage Financial Co. (NASDAQ:HFWA) saw a significant decrease in short interest in the month of September. As of September 30th, there was short interest totalling 419,200 shares, a decrease of 17.7% from the September 15th total of 509,600 shares. Approximately 1.2% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average trading volume of 192,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.2 days.

Heritage Financial Stock Performance

Shares of HFWA stock traded up $0.85 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $21.83. The stock had a trading volume of 105,861 shares, compared to its average volume of 184,819. Heritage Financial has a one year low of $15.50 and a one year high of $23.82. The firm has a market cap of $753.14 million, a PE ratio of 17.33 and a beta of 0.53. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $21.72 and its 200 day simple moving average is $19.71. The company has a quick ratio of 0.81, a current ratio of 0.81 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.61.

Heritage Financial (NASDAQ:HFWA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $0.45 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.41 by $0.04. The firm had revenue of $56.36 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $58.27 million. Heritage Financial had a return on equity of 7.95% and a net margin of 14.59%. On average, analysts forecast that Heritage Financial will post 1.66 EPS for the current year.

Heritage Financial Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, August 21st. Investors of record on Wednesday, August 7th were given a $0.23 dividend. This represents a $0.92 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Wednesday, August 7th. Heritage Financial’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.02%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

HFWA has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Piper Sandler boosted their price objective on Heritage Financial from $23.00 to $26.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, July 29th. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods raised their price objective on shares of Heritage Financial from $20.00 to $23.00 and gave the stock a “market perform” rating in a research note on Friday, July 26th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and two have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Heritage Financial currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $23.50.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in HFWA. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Heritage Financial by 133.7% in the 2nd quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,374 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 786 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Asia Singapore Pte. Ltd. acquired a new position in Heritage Financial during the second quarter worth $25,000. Innealta Capital LLC bought a new position in shares of Heritage Financial during the second quarter valued at $27,000. Point72 DIFC Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Heritage Financial in the 2nd quarter worth about $31,000. Institutional investors own 78.30% of the company’s stock.

About Heritage Financial

Heritage Financial Corporation operates as the bank holding company for Heritage Bank that provides various financial services to small and medium sized businesses and individuals in the United States. It accepts various deposit products, such as noninterest demand deposits, interest bearing demand deposits, money market accounts, savings accounts, personal checking accounts, and certificates of deposit.